Flow-arresting device.



No. 708,335. Patentd Sept. 2, I902.

u. ALFISKE.

FLOW ABBESTING DEVICE.

(Application filed Sept. 21, 1900.

(No Model.)

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-I-IENRY A. FISKE, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO EVERETT D. GHADWICK, OF BROOKLINE, MASSA- CI-IUSETTS.

FLOW -ARRESTING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters latent No. 708,335, datedSeptember 2, 1902.

Application filed September 21, 1900. Serial No. 30,676. (No modelfl forautomatic fire-extinguishing systems to prevent the giving of falsealarms. An alarmvalve of the kind referred to is shown and described inLetters Patent of the United States No. 384,514, granted June 12, 1888,to

Dowson and Taylor, for an alarm-valve for automatic fire-extinguishers,in which valve the opening of the main check-valve to supply thesprinkling system permits a stream of water under pressure to flow to awater rotary or other suitable alarm device. It has been found inpractice that in an alarm-valve of the type just described thecheck-valve will not infrequently be opened by a temporary excesspressure in the supply system, such as is caused by a water-hammer or bya slight leakage above the check-valve sufficiently to permit the flowto the alarm device of enough water to operate the same, in which case afalse alarm will be given.

My present invention provides a device which when interposed between themain check-valve and the alarm device of an alarmvalve such as abovedescribed may be made to check or arrest the flow of water to the withthe proper operation of the alarm-valve, but will merely delay thegiving of the alarm for the interval referred to.

A preferred form of flow-arresting device embodying my invention andadapted to be used in connection with an alarm-valve, as above setforth, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1shows the device in central vertical section, and Fig. 2 is a plan viewshowing half of a guiding-plate hereinafter described.

My device may be broadly described as consisting of the combination of achamber through which the stream of fluid to be checked is adapted toflow, a valve or equivalent device for controlling the flow of the fluidthrough the chamber, means for opening the 'valve, and means arranged tobe acted upon by the pressure of the fluid, and thereby made to exert aclosing force on said valve, the construction being such that after adesired interval of time has elapsed the effective force tending to holdthe valve closed will be neutralized, whereupon the valve wilt open andthe fluid will be free to flow through the chamber without furtherinterruption.

The device shown in the drawings comprises two hollow castings 2 and 3,flanged and bolted tightly together, as shown, and separated by amovable partition, herein shown as a flexible diaphragm 4E, clampedbetween the flanged ends of the said castings, which are preferablycircular in cross-section. The joint between the castings should be madefluid-tight by means of gasket-rings 5 and 6 or otherwise. There arethus provided two chambers 7 and 8, situated on opposite sides of thediaphragm 4, the chamber 8 being closed at its upper or outer end andthe chamber 7 being provided with an inlet 9 and an outlet 10, to whichin use are secured the pipes which convey the fluid, so that the chamber7 is inserted in and forms a part of the channel or passage throughwhich said fluid is intended to flow when admitted thereto.

The passage of the fluid through the chamber 7 is controlled by a valve11 or similar de vice, which is arranged to open outward and to beoperated by the movements of the diaphragm or other partition 4,preferably by being attached to the center thereof. According to thearrangement shown the valve-stem 12 passes directly through thediaphragm at and is screw-threaded to receive two clamping plates ornuts 13 and 14, between and by means of which said diaphragm andvalvestem are securely united. A guide and bearing for the upper end ofthe valve-stem 12 may be provided by means of a circular casting 15,secured to the casting2 above the diaphragm and provided with a hollowedcentral portion, the upper end of which forms the desired guide for thestem 12 and may also serve as the bearing for one end of a spring 16,arranged to press against the nut 13, and thereby hold the valve 11 openunder normal conditions. The bearing-surface of said valve is preferablymade conical, as shown, and the valve-seat 17 has a correspondingsurface 18, said seat 17 being preferably formed separate from thecasting 3 and screwed into a recess provided for it.

An open passage is provided between the chambers 7 and 8,'so that thefluid will always be free to flow from one chamber to another; but saidpassage has, however, so limited a capacity that a transfer of fluidthrough the same sufficient substantially to equalize the pressures inthe chambers 7 and 8 will require that period of time for which it isdesired to arrest the flow of fluid through the device. I'prefer to formsaid passage by making the clamping device 14 cup-shaped and perforatingits walls with a number of minute holes 19,the interior cavity of thepart 14 and the chamber 8 being connected by making the upper portion ofthe valve-stem 12 hollow and connecting the lower portion of the tubethus formed with said cavity by a lateral perforation 20. As thusconstructed the holes 19 collectively form a sort of strainer, whichserves to prevent the clogging of the hollow stem 12'by dirt orsediment. Free com munication between the chamber 8 and the top ofthediaphragm 4 is afforded by providing a suitable n u m berof apertures 21in the plate 15.

The device above described operates as fol lows:.The parts beingnormally in the position-shown in the drawings, if a fluid underpressure he admitted to the chamber 7 through the inlet 9 it willinstantly fill said chamber and exert sufficient pressure on the underside of the diaphragm 4: to lift said diaphragm, and with itthe valve11, overbalancing the pressure on the valve itself, thereby closing saidvalve and preventing the escape of fluid through the outlet 10. Thefluid in the chamber 7 will simultaneously pass through the holes 19 andhollow valve-stem 12 into the chamber 8 at a rate which is determined inpart by the fluid-pressure in the chamber 7, in part by the backpressure in the chamber 8, and in part by the cross-sectional area ofthe passage leading from one chamber to'the other at its smallest part.thus acts as a closed reservoir, and as it fills with fluid the pressuretherein will increase The chamber 8 until the pressures on both sides ofthe diaphragm 4 will become so nearly equal that the resultant oroperative fluid-pressure on said diaphragm will be over-balanced by theforces tending to open the valve 11, whereupon said valve will open andthe fluid will be free to flow through the outlet 10. The size of thechamber 8 and the cross-sectional area of the bore of the valve-stem 12are such, as above stated, that before the pressures in the chambers 7and 8 can become approximately equalized, as above described, thedesired interval of time will elapse after the entrance of the fluidinto the chamber 7, so that before the valve 11 can open the desiredinterruption of the flow of fluid will have taken place. In case thefluid ceases to flow into the chamber 7 said chamber will empty itselfthrough the opening 10 orthrough a small drip provided for the purpose,and the fluid in the reservoir 8 will pass into the chamber 7 and bethence drained off until in the case of water or other liquid the levelof the liquid in said reservoir reaches the top of the hollow valvestem, when no further escape will take place from said reservoir.

It will be understood that the alarm devices commonly used withalarm-valves of the kind described are arranged to be operated only by aquantity of water which has considerable volume and pressure, and hencesaid devices will not be affected by the small quantity of water whichmay flow past the valve 11 before it closes or which may leak past saidvalve after it has closed or which may be drained from the chambers 7and8 after the device has operated, as above'described.

It is also to be'observed that whenmy device is operated by a liquid thetime during which the valve 11 will remain closed may be varied not onlyby varying the size of the passage through which the chambers 7and 8communicate with each other, but also and more easily by varying theheight of the valvestem 12 within the chamber 8, because all of,

said chamber below the top of said stem will remain permanently filledwith liquid, and consequently the capacity of said chamber 8 and thequickness with which it will be filled will depend upon the height ofsaid valvestem.

Although my invention as herein shown and described is particularlyadapted to provide an attachment for alarm-valves to prevent the givingof false alarms, it may also be made use of to check or arrest the flowof any fluid under pressure, whether liquid or gas, for a desired periodof time wherever such a device may be desirable, and I do not considerthat my invention is limited to the specific use above set forth nor tothe form or arrangement of parts herein'shown and described, as the samemay be greatly varied without departing from my invention. example, itmay be noted that it is not material whether the valve 11 be normallyopen or normally closed in case the arrangement For is such, as shown inthe drawings, that the pressure in the chamber 7 will be operative uponsaid valve to provide a force for opening the same. Thus it in thedevice shown the spring 16 were normally stretched instead of compressedit would normally hold the valve 11 closed, and the only difference inoperation in such case would be that when the fluid reached the chamber7 it would find the valve 11 closed, and in order to open the valve itwould have to exert sufficient pressure thereon to overcome the effectof the spring 16, whereas in the arrangement shown the fluid-pressurefirst has to close the valve 11 and is subsequently assisted in openingthe same by said spring. In each case, however, the valve will beprovided with means for opening it, and in each case the movable memberor diaphragm 4 will exert a closing force on the valve when the fluidfirst reaches the chamber 7 and will continue to hold the valve closeduntil the effective valve-closing force is neutralized by the gradualflow of fluid into the chamber 8. In case the valve 11 be normallyclosed it will of course be necessary to drain the chambers 7 and 8through a drip-opening into the former chamber, as obviously no drainagewill be able to escape through the valve 11. This latter arrangement maybe preferred in case it is desired to prevent any flow of fluid past thevalve 11 prior to the operation of the device.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a device of the character described, thecombination of a chamber having an inlet and an outlet, avalvecontrolling said outlet, means for opening said valve, means operated bythe pressure of the fluid entering said chamber for exerting a closingforce on the valve, and means whereby the effective force holding saidvalve closed is automatically neutralized after a predeterminedinterval.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a chamberprovided with an inlet and an outlet, a valve arranged to control theflow of a fluid through said out let, means for holding the valvenormally open, means for closing the valve arranged to be operated bythe pressure of said fluid, and means for rendering said pressureinoperative after a predetermined interval. 3. In a device of thecharacter described, the combination of a chamber provided with an inletand outlet, a movable member arranged to be operated by fluid-pressureexerted in said chamber, a flow-controlling de vice operative with saidmember and arranged to arrest the flow of the fluid through the outletwhen said member is acted upon by the pressure thereof, and means forrendering the pressure on said member inoperative after a predeterminedinterval.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of a movablemember arranged to be operated by fluid-pressure, a valve controlled bysaid movable member and arranged to be held closed thereby when saidmember is acted upon by said pressure, means for automaticallyequalizing the pressures on both sides of said movable member after apredetermined interval, and means for opening said valve.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination of a chamberprovided with an inlet and an outlet, a movable plate or diaphragmclosing one side of said chamber, a valve connected with said diaphragmand arranged to close said outlet when the diaphragm is acted upon bythe pressure of the fluid in said chamber, means for opening said valve,and means for equalizing the pressures on both sides of said diaphragmafter a predetermined interval.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination of a chamberprovided with an inlet and an outlet, a reservoir separated from saidchamber by a movable partition, a valve carried by said partition andarranged to close said outlet, and means for opening said valve, saidpartition being provided with an open passage-way leading from saidchamber to said reservoir.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination of a chamberprovided with an inlet and an outlet, a reservoir adjacent to saidchamber, a movable partition'between said chamber and reservoir providedwith an open passage adapted to permit a gradual flow of fluid betweenthe chamber and reser voir, a valve connected with said partition andadapted to close the outlet from said chamber, and means for openingsaid valve.

8. In a device of the character described, the combination of a chamberand a reservoir separated by a flexible diaphragm, said chamber beingprovided with an inlet and an outlet, a valve attached to said diaphragmand arranged to close the outlet, said valve having the upper portion ofits stem hollow and thereby providing a passage between said chamber andreservoir, a straining device surrounding the lower end of said hollowstem and communicating therewith, and means for opening said valve.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 18th day ofSeptember, 1900.

HENRY A. FISKE.

\Vitnesses:

E. D. CHADWICK, ELLEN F. COLLINS.

